


Sharing

by Griddlebone



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/M, Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-06
Updated: 2014-01-06
Packaged: 2018-01-07 18:38:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1123061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Griddlebone/pseuds/Griddlebone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wash wants something. Zoe gives him permission.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sharing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Settiai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Settiai/gifts).



Ecstasy still flowing through her veins, Zoe rolled off her husband to lay beside him and catch her breath. For a long time afterward, she was content to just lie in bed beside Wash, listening to him breathe and watching him doze off. The trouble with watching, though, was that without Wash's ridiculous remarks to distract her, it was only too easy for her to get to thinking.

Wash hadn't been quite right since that last thing with Niska. He had come out of it in one piece, yeah. And he was more possessive of her than he'd been before, and more assertive when they were alone in their bunk, and she wasn't gonna complain about that any time soon. But there was something about Wash lately that had her curious.

She didn't know exactly what had happened back there, or what twisted things Niska had done to Mal and Wash in that torture chamber. She didn't need to know. She had seen enough horrors herself. But she had noticed since then that there were times when her husband couldn't seem to take his eyes off the captain, least he couldn't when he thought she wasn't looking.

He and the captain hadn't always seen eye to eye, she knew. It seemed to Zoe that they understood each other better now, and that was a good thing. Maybe they still didn't understand perfectly, but there was no room for perfect on _Serenity_ anyway.

But it seemed to Zoe there was more to it than that. She knew him well enough to tell when Wash wanted something even if he didn't say it. And those times she caught him staring after Mal like that, he wanted something. Watching him now, Zoe had half a mind to find out what that something was.

She knew she ought to feel jealous, with her husband looking at another man like that, but she didn't, not really. It was actually kind of cute, in that dopey, infatuated way Wash had.

"Wash," she said softly, to drag him back to reality. "Baby."

He blinked one eye open to look at her and mumbled something unintelligible before rolling away from her and snuggling back into the blanket.

For half a second, she thought about how best to approach the question. This was a vulnerable moment. She'd have to be careful.

"Wash, what're you thinking when you look at the captain like that?"

Then again, she'd never been subtle and never pulled punches. No reason to start now. And if this sparked a fight, well, it wouldn't be the first time they'd fought about Mal in bed.

"What?" he asked without turning to look at her. His voice was calm, but she could feel him stiffen beside her as he realized he'd been caught.

She rolled onto her side to press her body against his, wrapping one arm around his shoulder and pressing her face into his shoulder blade. She wasn't trying to trap him, but to comfort. "I ain't stupid," she told him levelly, enjoying the feel of his bare shoulder against her cheek. "And I've got eyes that work just fine. I just wanna know what's in that head of yours when you're staring at him with that look on your face."

He ignored her deliberate mildness. "What look? There's no look," he protested. He was a very bad liar.

"I know that look," she went on. And she realized that she did. "It's the same one you used to give me when you thought the captain wasn't looking."

Wash was silent for a very long time. Long enough that Zoe started to worry about him. Usually he tended to ramble on at length about anything and everything, happily chattering away and leaving the silent brooding to her. The prolonged silence made her wonder if it had been a mistake to confront him about the captain just yet.

"Wash, it's all right," she soothed, her hard shell cracking in the face of his silence. "I don't mind." She smiled. "Just cause I don't feel that way about him, don't mean you can't."

This time Wash did turn over to look at her, the most endearingly confused expression on his face. "Zoe, my love, what did you just say? Because I can't have heard you right."

What was she saying? She had to be half a fool to be pushing her husband toward another man. But the thing was, it felt right. Odd as it seemed when she even tried to think about it, she didn't think she would mind sharing Wash. Not if it was Malcolm Reynolds she was sharing him with. She trusted Mal like she trusted no one else. And if Wash could make him happy and he could make Wash happy, why not?

So she repeated herself. "I don't mind you being interested in the captain."

He stared at her in stunned silence. Then: "You can't mean that!"

"Why not? If it was Jayne, I admit I might have some rather pressing objections," she replied with a smirk. "But the captain?" She shrugged. "There isn't gonna be anything going on between him and me anytime soon, but that don't mean I can't see the appeal."

She was slowly getting through to him. "So you're, what? Giving me permission to… proposition Mal?"

"If you want," she agreed, feeling surprisingly pleased with herself.

He thought it over. She could practically see the machinery in his head working. "You're not going to try and make me do it right now, are you? This isn't some diabolical plan, right? Cause I'm awfully comfortable right here with my wonderful wife who somehow hasn't killed me yet," he told her.

That drew a chuckle out of her. "No. Only if you want to, when you want to."

He shifted to kiss her forehead dramatically. "You really are an amazing woman, Zoe. An angel."

"Because I can read your mind?" she teased, but sobered quickly. "Before you start thinking I'm too wonderful, I do have some rules."

"Rules?" He looked overly cautious again, as if she were about to eat him.

"One: I'm still your wife," she told him. "This is still our bunk, _our_ space."

"Okay," he said slowly, nodding as he caught her drift. She didn't exactly want to come back to her bunk after a job and find her husband with someone else.

"Two: You're not dragging me into this. When I'm with you, I wanna be with my husband. I don't want it to be all awkward-like."

"And having someone else around would make it awkward-like," he concluded.

"Specially if it's Mal," she agreed.

Silence spread over the room, comfortable this time instead of taut and dangerous. Wash watched Zoe, a faint smile on his face. She was happy just to stare back at him, too.

After a while, he thought to ask, "That's it?"

"For now," she allowed.

He grinned widely and the next thing she knew he was hugging her, squeezing her tight so she was squashed against him and laughing in helpless amusement at his antics. "I'll let you know if I think of anything else," she promised.

He released her just a little bit, enough that she could breathe again, and sighed happily.

Zoe felt almost sleepy, wrapped up in her husband's arms like that. But one thing still nagged at her. "Wash… I can't make the captain do anything," she murmured. "Much as I might like to make him say yes for your sake, when you ask him... you're on your own."

"I still don't quite believe we're actually discussing this," he admitted. "It means a lot that you'd give me permission, Zoe, but I don't know if I'll ever do anything about it. Right now I'm all right with the whole yearning from afar thing. Specially when I'm in bed with my wife who doesn't mind if I make sad puppy eyes at the captain now and then."

She laughed and only rolled her eyes a little. "I'm glad we had this discussion, then."

Wash looked more peaceful than he had in a long time. "Me too."


End file.
